2009 North and South America Winter Tour
Its 2009 January 6th, I am leaving on another tour this time i will be heading to the deep dark north of America and then on to sexy dirty south America. My iternary consists of arriving in Vancouver Canada & ending up in Rio via Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Miami, Buenos Aires ending up in Rio de Janeiro. All this in 5 weeks, its an intense journey with little time to rest, it was time to just play and do what I live for.
My mind set has slightly changed from previous trips, my business in the UK has been put on hold for this trip during worrying economic times with the financial crisis, the big recession, credit crunch that's hit, this is an even better reason for leaving, I didn't want to be bombarded with the media constantly putting depression on our life's. So why not get away make some dosh elsewhere & have fun at the same time. Judging by the packed BA85 flight to Vancouver I think everyone had the same idea as me to get away from the UK at this sad time.
Vancouver
On arrival in Vancouver, I was asked several questions at customs, why are you visiting, who are you visiting?, what's my job? how much money do I have?, the questions were quite personal. I could not men ion I was actually djing there as i would not be let in as i had no work permit and this is requirement you must have to Work & get paid in Canada & also the US. i managed to get pass in a sweat. i took a cab to my first accommodation of the tour, i was staying at the hi central Vancouver hostel bang in the centre of the entertainment district so handy for drinking & partying. i had my own private room which was nice & spacious & clean although i was on the 3rd floor & the lift was dodgy so it was up & down the stairs, still a friendly backpackers that i would recommend. i decided to go & have a few beers as it was my first night although i was physically drained from the long flight & being 8 hours behind UK time zone, i went to the backpackers bar across the street where i met 2 young snowboarders from Australia, we had a bit of laugh they ended up getting with 2 Brazilians girls, me being the 3rd person & there was only 2 girls missed out, so i went to bed as i was knackered & didn't fancy viewing the friendly 4 snoging each other in front of me.
First day in Vancouver i decided to do some tourist stuff i went to the Harbour centre tower observation deck where you get to see great views of the city from high above, now ive been up many observation towers skyscrapers in most cities, this was no different although you do get to see how vast the area is around Vancouver lots of water, mountains & fantastic scenery, its a nice view for $13. Aft er leaving the tower i made my way to stanley park which is one of Vancouver's made attractions, a beautiful park with b beaches, forests, cliffs, treks,lots of space, i started off my hike at English bay beach &20 then decided to walk towards prospect point which is a way up north of the park, this proved to be a pleasant walk at first but then turned in to an up hill hike of about 4 mile, as i made my way around the edge of the park strolling across the tranquil beach's, i made my way to the siwash rock & there was a gate that had shut off access along the seawall as apparently it was unsafe, i decided to go off route & make my own way up the cliff climbing & hanging on to trees & branches like tarzan. i finally made it on to a path with a stream which i followed, trekking through the deep snow & carefully trying not to slip on the ice, i started work u p a real sweat as this path just seem to get steeper & steeper, i lost my breath on several occasions, this was the best exercise i've had in months & was enjoying the experience in the fresh open air, the great outdoors, there was not a person in sight until i saw some crazy old dude jogging without his shirt on. i kept walking up the cliff & finally y after hour or so found a road which lead to prospect point, there was a bar/cafe at the top which i stopped at & had a nice beer, a great day out.
My second night in Vancouver i met 3 friendly auzzies Tim, James & Bronny we had a f few beers & bit of a laugh in the backpackers bar, i invited them to my gigs & they ended up coming both nights which was nice, its always good to have support when your abroad. That evening i ended up getting absolutely smashed i went & visited the clubs i was playing at Republic & Tonic where they both gave me 4 complimentary drink vouchers, i believe i necked 6 jagermeister's that night.
Following day a rather sore head & it was time to check out of the hi central hostel & move across the street to the comfort inn which the club Republic i was playing at had paid for me to stay in, It was again convienily located bang in the centre of the en tertainment. i took the day easy i went & visited china town on route i passed Hastings street which is strictly a no go area, infected hookers, crack heads, scag heads, junkies, homeless, not the sort of place you would want to make friends, the huge number of them together shaking like a scene from shaun of the dead. Vancouver for some reason has a large number of homeless s on the streets searching through bins & begging, more so than any other western city i've been to. Apart from the homeless element Vancouver has great character, its original in its own way, lots & lots of independent shops with a strong link towards music & arts. i visited the Rock shop wh ich was a fantastic store selling all types of rock merchandise, i bought an old classic Nirvana t shirt as i was a big fan back i n the day & as was off to Seattle i thought i may where it while im there, would that be sad?
Thursday night it was my debut gig in Canada & the first of the tour, before i made my way to the club i dropped by the Au bar as there was a big party going on there, DJs johnny omega & dimitri were mixing it up Latin house style to the packed crowd of Brazilians & foreign students, there were some mighty fine female talent on display. i left Au bar & went to republic to do my thing, i wasn't in the right frame of mind as i was still suffering from the hang over the night previous. i played my set which was a mash up of old c lassics & 80's. the club was half empty & there wasn't really much of a vibe going on that night, although my new auzzies friends seem to enjoy it.
Friday my final day in Vancouver, i had another evening with little sleep & this was wearing off on me, so i took it easy & decided to go & have a decent meal for once & went to a recommended place cal led the smoke house which was right down by the water front south on granville street, i went there for late lunch as i heard the food was amazing & you get to cook the meat yourself, i enjoyed some steak & prawns, the view from the restaurant is impressive to, you over look a small marina & granville island market, on a clear day you can see the mountains.evening time before my big gig, i went to see Vancouver kanucks play against St Louis in the nhl, this was my first ever time to an ice hockey game so i was looking forward to it, ticket was $40 i went with a group from the hi hostel, the game was very entertaining & amusing, like lots of american sports its not about the game as much but more the entertainment, periods & intervals that take place every 10 minutes for advertisement breaks & so you can go & but some more hot dogs, beers etc. it was very other the top at times but funny to watch. It was a tight game St Louis won it in the 3rd & final period with only a few minutes left much to the ann oyance to all the Vancouver supporters who left after the goal went in, the final score was 4-2. After the game getting out was a nightmare i jumped in a cab as i had to get back quickly to get prepared for my DJ set, i ended up being stuck in traffic for over 45 minutes!!!
I arrived at the club around a 11 one hour before my set. Tonic Nightclub where i was playing is an old looking place but with a great atmosphere one big room that holds around 400 people. Gary Aka DJ Johnny Omega was warming up for me, he's a good guy & responsible for my booking, he had invited around 6 girls to the night who were dancing in the private area directly behind the decks, i sometime gets distracted when i have lots of people bumping in to me while im djing, i am one of these DJs that needs space in the DJ booth to concentrate & once im there im in different zone, This was however more of a party vibe & good fun, my set went down a storm and everyone went cra zy to my tunes. it was one of those nights when you know why everyone wants to be a dj for that reason, the beautiful feeling you get when making everyone happy dancing all night long & then you receive the applause at the end & all the old compliments of how amazing you did. it's why i started djing for the love of music & the great feeling you get, ever since i first bought my second hand belt drive turntables & mixer and my first 12 inch vinyl. i would of never have dreamed of doing it 10 years later & playing at clubs around the world. DJing as an art form has changed a hell of alot since i first began, now many DJ s & the new kids are using lap tops, software programmes such as traktor, serato scratch, this makes djing more accessible, you have everything in font of you 1000's of tunes on mp3. i still prefer to use pioneer cdj 1000's and dont plan to change format soon.
Leaving Vancouver
it was time to leave Vancouver, a sad time as i had an enjoyed my visit & the people i met. i had to jump on a bus to Seattle my next location, when i got to the bus station i had found i made as mistake with my booking my ticket was leaving from Vancouver Washington state which is a completely different city, luckily they managed to change my ticket for an extra $8. This day turned out to go from bad to worst, Imagaration at the border, i was kept behind for an extra 15 minutes while everyone else on the bus wai ted for me, the red neck gun ho strict officers who were dealing with my immagrration were giving me a hard time because of my itenary they asked me over 8 questions who am i staying with, why am i going, same old procedures, i had to fill a separate immagration form & then pay $9 for some reason this ended up taking an extra 10 minutes as they were short staffed &a mp; had no one to collect my money. i was getting wound up & upset as everyone on the bus were still waiting, the bus driver came over to find out what the delay was. It always seems to happen to me for some unknow reason. i finally got through in to the United States of America. Quite an embarrasing situation that as i got back on the bus with everyone looking at me as if i was a terroist or someone dodgy. This was the worst day to trael think of extreme weather, down pour cold wet, windy muitiply that by 10 it was horrible after leaving the border an hour later the bus had to stop in the middle of knowhere as rhe winscreen wiper had broke & the driver could not see out of the window, so we then had to wait an hour for another bus to arrive to transfer over. I finally get to Seattle a bit later than expected.
Seattle
On arrival in Seattle the weather wasn't to different to Vancouver, i took a cab to my hotel that the club had booked me in to, the hotel was called the Max it was a posh boutique styled hotel, very clean & modern, i had a nice view of the city from the 10th floor, i went had quick walk around town & topped up my t mobile, i went for dinner at the red fin sushi restuarant next to the hotel, the food was amazing & good value as it was happy hour before 6. I had found there to be sushi resturants all over the place in Vancouver & Seattle, there is an affluent asian population in these 2 citys & japanese & asia food is always very popular. i was amazed from the short time spent in Seattle how modern & well constructed the city is, unlike Vancouver it is very clean & efficient, lots of big sky scrappers, wealth & money seemed to be in presant,20i suppose being the home of microsoft & starbucks these are reasons for this, but i found from a friend the cost of living in Seattle is very resonable compared to other cities & states.
That evening i got ready & made my way to the nightclub i was playing at Trinity, i had been booked by a friendly dude called Jason who is the saturday night resident there, the club is very cool inside it has a very chilled out font room with comfy seating & a vj/dj spinning r&b. then there is the house room where i was playing a bigger room but only a 150 - 200 capacity, the main room was hip hop that was bigger but again hip hop in america is bigger than dance music. I heard Jason play his set he played some good tunes but it was quite deep & progressive, i played my set from 11 till 1 & absolutely rocked it. the crowd were with me for throughout the 2 hours i kept it quite crowd friendly playing popular remixes & bootlegs og old hits, i recieved allot of praise from people on my set20& there were lots asian guys & girls there asking me for free cds. i met an attractive girl called randa who gave me a relaxing back massage using just her fingers, wow it was good. i had really cool time that night & loved the crowd, i really hope to return to Seattle agin sometime & po ssibly play in the main room at Trinity.
Next day i had to check out of my funky & stylish Max hotel, i recommend this place for sure. i sent a few emails & then took a wonder down to the public market, this was a wonderful place to visit full of independent traders selling hand made goods & bizzare stuff ranging from afgani goods, musical instruments, plentry of fresh fish, lots of live music from buskers everywhere. i had a quick lunch here over looking the water front. i forgot to take my camera so had to buy a kodak throw a camera to take some pictures of the scene.
i could'nt spend to long here as i had to get ready for my greyhound bus that was leaving at 6. i was not looking forward to this. it was a 20 hour bus jouney from Seattle to san francisco. i went a bit crazy in the pharmacy & bought lots of medical stuff such as sleeping tablets to help me sleep as the last 5 days i've had little sleep, also motion sickness tablets, lots of sweets, drinks & snacks for this epic jouney.
For any of those who have ever travelled on a grey hound bus across America you will know you can meet & find some very interesting & odd people. As i found out there were some real randoms on there, low lives, some dodgy woman who kept shaking & there was me of course a lonely DJ from the posh Surrey suburbs of London England. i had brought my macbook with me & several dvds to watch on the journey but i did'nt bother getting this out for the first 11 hours on the journey, i managed to get about 4 hours sleep before we got to Redding, we had a quick change over at Sacramento & then it was only another 2 final hours until i reached San Francisco. What a relief and one epic bus journey.
San Francisco
In San Francisco i was staying at the San Remo hotel which was in fishermans wharf, an old hotel dating back over 100 years and most of been haunted as it had the haunted house feel. the rooms hd no bathroom or sink, the rooms were very old fashioned & traditional for that period going back 100 years, a nice hotel conviently located and a great price $60 a night the best value in town. i spent a few days in fishermans wharf did the touristy stuff saw castros island & took a bus tour aro und the city stopping at the golden gate bridge & all the various parks such as alamo, it was a nice way to get aaound and see all the major sites in a day. Evening time in fishermans wharf there was not really much going on being a mon & tuesday evening i took it easy, i had a great lunch & eat some fresh fish, I decided to move in to the ity downdown area oposite union square, i stayed in the hi host el which was a great location & i had the most spacious private room. Weds evening i went & visited some various bars off the beaten track, finding myself getting hassled at every block by the homeless, i ended up a club called vessel, a night recommend by a friend of mine, it was mainly gay folk in there with tight t shirts & extreme dancing much to be expected i suppose being in the gay central of america, most of the bars i went to did end up being male dominated, apparently its easy to get with chick in san fran for this reason but i had no luck. My final day in san fran i took it easy & sorted out my travel arrangements for my next trip LA, orginally i was going to hire a car & drive but then found i could take a bus straight to hollywood for just $45 so i took the easy option & paid for the bus.
I met up with my buddy Eric who´s a DJ & owns his own record label rockit science records based in San Fran, he took me to this chinese place a really small joint where the chef came and asked me what i liked without even looking at a menu, i said prawns or shimps are good, 10 minutes later he delivered a plate full of prawns & some dry noodles to much for me to eat. After dinner it was baxck to the hi hostel where i had put my name down to go on the pub crawl. The pub crawl was led by the most camp gay guy you could possibly meet, there ends up being about 17 of us on this crawl as we made our w ay to mission a district of san franciscio known for its bars, on arrival in Mission we went to some well dodgy bars where at one of them i thought i was going to get glassed by some yanky skin head with tattoos over his face, we necked a few & then it was off to the next bar which again was´nt nothing to write about, we did however have some cute brazilians girls on the crawl which made it fun, i was almost in there with one of them before this brazilian guy ended up chatting to her & before i knew it there were snogging each others face off, in fact the rest of the people from the crawl had all hooked up with one another & were kissing for the next hour, it was like being a teenage disco, i was the only one without a partner & i did´nt fancy getting with the gay leader, our last bar we went to was the beauty bar again a small bar with not much going on although they did have a DJ, it was the same chain of bar i once played at called the beauty bar which they also have in LA, nothing speci al, i decided to leave early, my mate Eric picked me up & dropped me off at Ruby skye where i went in quickly to check out a performance of some American female dance vocalist called Jess, she was quite good looked like an early madonna with a lot of sweat, i left after half an hour & made my way to my final club called the End up which is popular late night house club.
The music inside was wicked some dj on his laptop doing a live set that rocked, the club was open till 4 but last orders was at 2 so i end up buying 6 bottles of red stripe, what i did´nt realise is that at 2 you have to stop drinking, so i had some security punk come up to me & grab all 4 of my bottles, i said what the fuck you doin? "i need to take these off you, its state law" so there goes my beers, i decided to leave the club at this point. a fun 4 days in san fran, i was disapointed not to of dj´d in the city but still it was nice to have a break, i loved the laid back & relaxed feel to the place, it seems like a nice place to live & work.
LA
Next day i had to catch the 12.15 bus to LA, it was anorther long old journey on the bus that took about 7 hours, on arrival in LA i had no where to stay, it was very last minute i had a gig that night at a club called area which was on n calunga that was the name of the street so i decided to stay somewhere resonably close. i check ed in to some dodgy little motel that was once used by the legendary rock god Jim Morrison, he had many drunken & drugged moments at this shady motel, i wanted to stay in the same room number 32 the room jim once had been in but it was occupied, i slept opposite, the motel was only $70 for the night, it had an eary feel to it & had´nt been worked on since the 60´s, the shower did´t work & there was no air con still it had a room & thats all that mattered, i made my way to the club area before that ;i stopped to have some food at smoked house pizza place where i ordered 2 appertizers as i did´nt have much time to eat, the appertizers came to about $30 which was a bit pricey, i paid by debit card but for some reason this did not work & i had no catch so i was in a bad situation, i said i would return later to pay my bill when i had cash but this never happened i do sincerly apologise & i promise i will be back to pay this. not something i have ever done before but my stupid natwset debit card doesnt work in the stes for some unknown reason?
i get to the club Area where i meet Michelle Ericison a friend of mine from back home who came to DJ with me, i ended up playing my set to a typical LA crowd that were all in to hip hop, i had no hip hop so found the set to be akward, i played for about hour & half of commewrcial house dance stuff before Ariyana the promoter asked play some hi p hop, i don't play that genre of music, sorry, the resident came back on scratchin & showing off.
it was´nt a good night, plus they would´nt pay me at the end so i got wound up & had a few strong words, in the end i got paid the next day Ariyana had to come to my 5 star motel & drop me the cash.
My final day in LA i took a stroll down sunset blvd then took a bus to hollywood blvd where i made my way down the street of stars, i´ve done this many times in the past but on this ocassion i decided i wanted to go & get a tattoo, this is something i´ve wanted to get for a long long time, i had been thingink about getting one for years but always chicken out, this time i was in the right frame of mind, right im going to get one, i had drawn a few little sketches roughly of what i wanted, finding the place to get it done was´nt going to be the problem, most tattoo shops you come across as quite intimading big scary looking blokes with piercings & tattoos all over their face. i came across a place called zebra i went inside & met a friendly auzzie dude who asked what i wanted i told him & he drew a quick sketch which looked quite cool, i took this away & had a long think about it, 30 mins later i went back in, and said right im going for it, we spent the next hour going over different designs, i wanted something basic, small & personal not my junior. i wanted something to remind me off the fun i´ve had over the years djing abroad so i thought i´ll get some headphones & 2 little stars indicating night, i got a bit panckiy before the needle hit the skin, i hate injections & anything like that. The pain was´nt at all bad it was more of a burning sensation. got the tattoo finished and i like it, it was about the moment and a sentimental point in my life, after my tattoo i felt a bit dizzy apparently this is due to the adrenelene of getting your first tattoo.
I got in a taxi in a bit of daze & went and met Jon & Linda for dinner, Jon and Linda are two friends of mine who live near LA, We had a fantastic dinner but the service was quite slow after dinner myself & Jon went to óne of LA´´s best dance clubs Vanguard where Satoshi Tommie was playing, we got passes on stage so it was a good view, had a wicked day & night one i wont forget, i had to leave the club early at 3.30 as i had to get to Lax Airport to get my stupidly early flight 7am to Miami. So stupid i was in fact to arrive at the airport 2 & half hours early for a domestic Flight.
Miami
I got to Miami in the afternoon & checked in to my cheap hotel on collins avenue, so cheap i cant remember its name, it was $50 so couldnt complain and it was just for one night, didnt have much time to relax as i had to get ready for my set at Glass at the Forge, this is a venue i have never been to, it was last minute booking so wasnt sure what to expect, i get to the club very early to set up my Dirty Retro Stuff, banners etc.. The club was very cool big chandiliers & fancy posh interior although the club was split in to two rooms, the main room & the back room where i was playing, i had booked a friend of mine Danny Stern a local DJ to play the warm up, i was getting quite anxious as the night went on, I was making the most of the drink vouchers double grey goose & orange was my d rink to calm the head. The main room was heaving packed to the rafters full of afro American black people, the music was pure Hip Hop, ragga, r&b in fact every genre of black music, Myself & Danny were the only white dudes in the club & we were playing to any empty room, well there was 2 hot bar chicks but that was it, i jumped on the decks & played some real classics such as James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, real r&b, this was in hope of drawing some people in from the other room, still no joy.
It was a pre party for Barrack Obama who was starting his first day as president this was a big reason to celebrate & a massive occasion. I finished my set early & at the end spoke to Elza who booked me, she was disapointed but i was even more so to find out it was a pure hip hop/black people event, she tried to under pay me but i was nt having it, i have been djing long enough now not to be srewed over, although DJs still all over the world get shafted and under cut. i got my full fee & left a bit pissed up.
R&B Hip Hop Music is still the number one music in the US and will be so now for a long long time, Eletronic music such as House although massive in Europe its still relatively underground in the states. Big name DJs get the lime line, up & coming & passionate djs spreading the word still have to fight very hard for their sets in this modern era and push the music they love and believe in.
After leaving the club i got back to my shit cheap hotel to hear a live porn film of some sort in the room next door, the walls were very thin in this place and the girl was screaming at a terrifying high pitch, i could even hear the guy groaning as the bed posts rattled against the wall, i wasnt in the mood to hear someone elses love making so i went and knocked on their door, they didnt answer but they stopped, i went back to bed & they were at it again even harder, I went to reception and explained & they let me move room at 4.30am. i was quite glad as i had blocked the toilet in the previous room and it smelt bad so this worked out well.
Next two days i drove north to Melbourne in Florida to stay at the folks house, it was a good time for me to relax & re charge my battery, do my washing & leave several things there such as excess clothing & my apple mac which was a seriously bad move & a sad one to, my apple mac book has been my best friend these last two weeks its been everywhere with me, but i decided to leave it in Florida for safety as i didnt want it to go missing in south america. I have heard horror stories of all sorts about kid nap, hi jacking, killing in parts of Brazil, i thought to myself in a negative way i wouldnt like to see my lap top get the same treatment.
I Left Melbourne & drove back to south on the US 95 to Miami being careful with my speed as i always seem to get a ticket on this highway, after about 1.5 hours all was going well then suddenly my car started shaking & swerving i managed to get on to the lay by then on to the grass verge, a bit shocked as i almost charashed the rental car, i find my front left tire had a blow out, it was all i needed, i rung up Enterprise explained the story then spoke to several other emergency road side people after waiting an hour someone called Pete came along to replace my tyre & send me on my way, it was facking freezing also sitting there on the highway, apparently it was the coldest Floridas been for many years. I arrive in Miami an hour later then schedualed. That evening i was Djing at Jazid a cool live music venue i seem to play at every time i am in Miami, i know the owner Daniel a nice guy & Heather who runs the place, I past some time by having a final steak at the Out Back the infamous auzzie steak house, they even have one in Staines, innit mate. I get to Jazid and my buddy Irv is there, Irv warms up & plays a cool jazzy/funky styl set then follwed by another mate of mine Major who is actually an old Brit from Brom but has been living in the states for over 20 years still he has the tones of that sometimes annoying midlands accent, only joking. DJ Major steps it up and plays some more in your face house, techy stuff, the crowd was getting busy & it was a good time for me to get on & do my thing for an hour or so, i kept it quite diverse as the mood of the venue is very live music/jazz reggae influenced so i did'nt go to hard, the night went well & i got allot of love from the people there, its a fun little venue.
After my set i had to set off at 4 as my flight was at 7 to Panama, Once at Miami airport i was going through security & they pulled me aside, i always seem to get the special teatment not vip no more frisking, i was worried about the rubber gloves, they made me take my shoes & socks off & searched me up & down, they then went through my luggage with a swab thing on a bit of paper, i've seen this thing before at my club when the police have tested for drugs, now i wasn't sure if they were looking for weapons or drugs, still i felt nervous even though i had nothing on me, i said to they guy who was carefully swabing & taking tests on the inside of my bag, I always get this, i don't have any weapons or drugs. His reply was man i am Cuban i know how you feel, that made me smile. Finally i get passed security & finally board my flight to Panama, i was on route to my next destination Buenos Aires.